Five Minute Fix

Sometimes, you just need chocolate. There is an urgent need, want, desire, primal urge to eat chocolate. And those urges coincide with the times when you have nothing prepared: no cake, no cookies, no ice cream, no hot chocolate, no candy bars, not even any spare chocolate chips floating around to ease the pangs. In those moments, I have a solution for you: five minute chocolate cake. The cake sinks into the mug, has an interesting texture that’s only similar to chocolate cake but believe me, when you’re craving chocolate, this is the fix.

Blurry photo by the impatient, chocolate-craving Homemade Chocolatier

This time around, I made a few adjustments. I felt like (pretending to be) healthy and did those little switcheroos that healthy people seem to like; apple sauce and a banana found their way into this cake and oil and an egg felt left out.

Simple ingredients, easy to prepare, hardly any dirty dishes, no oven preheating…This recipe is dangerous and fantastic at the same time. And one of my favorite parts: it’s single serve. Instead of being naughty and baking an entire cake that I know I will eat straight from the pan, I can eat this little cake straight from the coffee mug it was made in. And not have to share.

Five Minute Chocolate Mug Cake A.K.A. The Most Dangerous Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

4 tbs flour

4 tbs sugar

2 tbs cocoa powder

*dash of cinnamon (my addition)

1 egg (I used half of an over ripe banana)

3 tbs milk

3 tbs oil (or 3 tbs apple sauce, like I used)

3 tbs chocolate chips (optional for some, mandatory for others)

a smattering of vanilla extract

1 large coffee mug

Directions:

Add dry ingredients, not including egg, to mug and mix well. I pre-mashed my banana and added it in. Add egg/banana and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil/apple sauce and mix. Add chocolate chips and vanilla extract, then mix again.

Photo by the Homemade Chocolatier

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high power. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but it shouldn’t run over.

If you have the will power, allow the cake to cool a little. If you don’t, learn a lesson at the expense of your tongue and try to eat immediately. Pulling the cake onto a small plate will cut down on cooling time.

These also make great gifts. Before being cooked, of course. One of my grandmothers, Memaw, made a coffee cup and pre-packaged the dry ingredients for each grandchild for Christmas. Wise, wise woman!

i was watching through the microwave panes with the same fear but the chocolate did not spill out. it mushroomed up over the edge then held until the microwave turned off and promptly sank back into the mug. long story short, as long as you’re not using a baby ramekin, you shouldn’t have a mess on your hands.

I was working on a paper tonight when I had a chocolate craving and figuring it was the prime time to try this recipe! Instead of milk I added orange juice which gave it a fun flavor. Thanks so much for posting this, Rachel!